AFTRA to Ponder Affected Voting

Interesting news from AFTRA today. An AFTRA committee will officially begin looking what impact affected voting might have on its members.

Reardon said in a statement released today, "As both a working actor and a union president, I am thrilled that the working performers who brought forward this issue are engaged and providing input to their union.... The suggestions by these AFTRA members to apply affected member voting to other contracts, such as Primetime Dramatic/Exhibit A, were developed by performers in good faith at a grass-roots level and deserve thoughtful, timely consideration and responses from the leadership of their union. Whatever the national board's final decision on the matter, I welcome and encourage an honest and respectful discussion of this issue."

The AFTRA committee -- which will be chaired by Stephen Collins (7th Heaven) and recent Strike Watch commenter Ed Fry -- will submit its report to the AFTRA Administrative Committee no later than May 23.

Of course, affected voting has been  on SAG members' minds lately. SAG's national board recently sidelined a popular proposal to institute the practice in the guild. SAG's rank and file remain divided on the question of whether voting on contracts should be limited to only members who work a certain amount on the contract(s) in question. Erik-Anders Nilsson recently wrote a very well-put editorial for us against affected -- or "qualified" -- member voting. It's already generating some comments, and we'd love to see more.

We're hoping the SAG proposal's author, Ned Vaughn, will contribute an editorial once the TV/Theatrical Contract is settled.

An AFTRA representative, who requested anonymity, pointed out the Administrative Committee approved the committee examining affected voting on April 23--its first meeting after the March 29 national board meeting. So, the formation of the committee was reported on April 24. SAG's national board sent Vaughn's proposal to committee April 12.

Stay tuned....

--Lauren Horwitch